Introduction to Grid Integration & Energy Storage for Renewable Power
A 1-Day introduction to the challenges of large-scale renewable power: Economic & technological factors around reliability, system planning & cost
24 September 2012, San Francisco, United States
Note: The course can be attended as a stand-alone session but also provides an excellent way to introduce yourself to or refresh your knowledge of Energy Storage before attending the "Flexible Transmission & Distribution 2012" conference on the following days.
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Course objectives
In developing future energy strategies - particularly where renewable sources such as solar and wind hold significant shares -a number of challenges arise, driven by the dependence of power generation on natural energy variability. This course, designed like all Green Power Academy training to be accessible to commercially-minded business people, provides an excellent introduction to:
- The economics of power generation, its pricing and grid distribution
- Where and why energy storage can play a role
- The cost-benefit analyses which will determine its market growth
- The technological solutions through which it can be achieved
Level & Style
All Green Power Academy courses run in an informal and extremely interactive manner, encouraging discussion and questions, to ensure that participants get the most value from the day.
This course is designed for those with commercial, financial and business interests in the energy industry, and assumes no prior knowledge. All aspects are presented in clear language, making the course of value to a range of job functions including senior managers from power utilities; power producers; grid operators; policymakers; investors; technology vendors and other stakeholders.
Approximate Timings (include lunch plus morning and afternoon refreshment breaks):
09:00 - 17:00
About your trainer
Dr John Massey is Green Power Academy's founder, Training Director, in-house renewables expert and lead trainer.
Combining a strong academic science background with over fifteen years commercial experience of industry research, analysis and training across a variety of “new technology “ industries (including conventional and renewable energy, telecoms and IT), Dr Massey is expert in demystifying the terminology and workings of new technologies, and presenting their commercial and business context.
He delivers training globally, to senior executives from a range of organisations from project development to finance and has also developed educational material for both live and distance learning courses.
He holds a 1st Class Honours degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, a PhD in Earth Sciences and a Diploma in Economics, Innovation and Sustainability.
“Very solid introduction from a very knowledgeable instructor”
“Rich in discussion”
“Good balance between theoretical and interactive”
Agenda Details
The Business Challenges in Large-Scale, Grid-delivered Renewable Power
- Grid integration challenges for variable and intermittent renewables such as solar and wind
- The commercial importance of measures and factors such as capacity factor, dispatchability, time of supply and capacity contribution
- Understanding the impact of renewable sources on the economics and efficiencies of conventional power plants, and the grid system as a whole
- Centralised vs. distributed renewable power delivery
- Power markets, pricing and interconnection
Applications of Energy Storage
- Including: load shifting, peak shaving, power regulation and quality
- Grid balancing and demand management, including "smart grids"
- Transmission and distribution capacity planning
- Differentiating Energy vs. Power capacity requirements in different storage applications
Solutions for Energy Storage
- Understanding current and future storage options, including:
- Pumped storage
- CAES (compressed air energy storage)
- Thermal storage
- Flywheels, Capacitors& SMES
- A multitude of battery types, including: Flow, NaS, Metal-air, Li-ion, Lead-Acid, fuel cells etc.
- Explaining the differing characteristics and appropriate applications of the various storage technologies
- Future electric transport markets and energy storage
The Economics of Renewable Power with and without Energy Storage
- The capital, operating and marginal costs of renewable power: current data and a critique of how such figures are derivedv
- The costs of the various storage technologies
- Storage costs and their impact (positive and/or negative) on electricity costs:
- The impact of storage on unit costs in electricity markets
- Market structure and energy policy aspects in influencing the economics of energy storage
- Including trading areas and renewable subsidies such as feed-in tariffs
- The impact of storage on full power project lifecycle costs:
- Levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and storage sensitivity analysis